One pub owner in the Austrian city of Linz has brilliantly tapped into his target market ahead of the Europa League clash between LASK and Liverpool on Thursday.
The teams are meeting for the first time, which means plenty of travelling Reds will have a new destination to add to their list, and a local entrepreneur has taken action to ensure that he reaps the benefit of Jurgen Klopp’s team coming to town.
As outlined by Liverpool Echo, publican Kieran Bates has renamed his premises from ‘The Chelsea’ to ‘King Kenny’s’ in anticipating of hundreds of Merseysiders descending on the locality.
He explained: “I took over the pub in 2005 and wanted to change the name, but the locals begged me to keep the name, so I did.
“For years I was asked why it was called that by fans of other Premier League clubs back home when not one Chelsea fan ever visited and it was the home of Linz Liverpool fans for years, so I decided to change it with a legendary name behind it! We’ve got flags and scarves and the Liverpool colours around the pub.”
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If Mr Bates wanted to ensure that he drew Liverpool fans to his pub for the Reds’ fixture in Linz, he’s certainly gone about it the right way with his homage to the legendary Kenny Dalglish.
Helpfully, the bus route to the Raiffeisen Arena includes a stop right outside the front door of King Kenny’s, while many of the LFC-supporting regulars tend to support FC Blau-Weiß Linz, the local rivals of LASK.
Hopefully the name will stay long after the travelling Reds have boarded the plane back home – let’s face it, the new moniker is so much better than its predecessor!
We hope that all Liverpool fans going to the game enjoy their visit and, most importantly, stay safe.